Haul of Fame

PSA: Expiry Date Symbol

I learned something that changed my life this week and wanted to share. 

I was at Sephora looking for an eye cream and asked a sales associate for recommendations. There was one on my list I asked her about, and she recommended I pass on it, since it was expensive and had too short a shelf life to use up the whole bottle. She then showed me this trick that I had never heard of before. 

Many products have a little jar symbol somewhere on the packaging. There is a number labeled inside the jar that indicates the number of months the product is good for. Once I saw it, I started noticing it on all my cosmetics and skincare. And it also made me realize how much expired product I had and went on a purge (don't worry to any coworkers who I gave products to last week, the expired products weren't in that batch). 

Of course, these dates don't necessarily mean that it's bad to use. Just maybe check that the product hasn't turned and is still working as well for you as when you got it. Sometimes people will think that a product has stopped working for them, when instead it's expired and the active ingredient has broken down or there can be bacteria growing in it. 

Did you all know about this? Was I the only one? In looking at the bottles, it was really interesting to see the difference between the organic products and those with chemicals/preservatives. Also, items with a pump tend to have a longer shelf life than a pot you dip your fingers into because the product inside remains more sterile. It definitely became something to consider, especially if you're investing in a high end product. 

A bonus non-cosmetic lifehack that this reminded me of: If you look at the gas tank indicator on your dashboard, right beside the gas logo there is a little arrow. This arrow indicates which side of the car the gas tank is on so you will never pull up at the same side again.